Islamabad: The PAC Committee (PAC) for Parliament, led by the Chairman of the Board of Directors Junaid Akbar Khan, has been examined by the tests of the Toskhna gifts and the suspicious amendments to the rules of Toskhna. The committee reviewed an audit report that highlights major differences in dealing with the gifts received by government officials, which raises warnings about the regime’s transparency and accountability.
It originally agreed by the Council of Ministers in 1993, the rules of Toshakhana witnessed many amendments, some of which were made without appropriate approval to the Council of Ministers. These changes occurred in 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2017 and 2018. Among the most controversial changes are those that allowed officials, including the Prime Minister, to keep gifts by paying a higher percentage of their value. It was initially identified by 30 percent, this amount was later raised to 50 percent, with a new proposal now indicating the possibility of maintaining gifts by paying 100 percent of their value.
The new Toshakhana Act has been enacted 2024, and the Council of Ministers is expected to approve new rules soon. The Secretary of the Council of Ministers explained that the Council of Ministers only has the authority to amend the rules of Toskhna.
During the meeting, a member of the committee, Tariq Vasal, raised concerns about whether any study had been conducted on how to manage other countries for official gifts. The Minister of Ministers stated by noting that countries like the United States have strict regulations and specific limits to accept gifts.
Auditing officials also revealed that the records from 1990 to 2002 were missing, which raised serious questions about accountability. Although the records of 2002 on the rising are available on the location of the cabinet, the oldest documents are qualified and may take time to recover them.
The Senator called on the two members of the committee to immediately download all the records of Toskhna from 1947 onwards to the site to ensure transparency. The state of the national archives were also exposed to scrutiny, as Senator Shipley Feraz highlights the lack of research activity.
In response, the Minister of Ministers admitted the previous challenges, but he assured him that the improvements have been, including modern survey techniques to organize the best records.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Junaid, the oldest Khan, concluded the session by requesting the recovery of all Tushkhanna records from 1947 to the present for a full and transparent review.
